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Ibrandul
Lord of the Dry Depths, the Skulking God, Lurker in Darkness Lesser Power of Pandemonium, CN PORTFOLIO: Caverns, dungeons, the Underdark, skulks ALIASES: None DOMAIN NAME: Formerly Phlegethon/Ibrandyllaran; currently adrift in the Astral Plane SUPERIOR: None ALLIES: Mask, Ilmater FOES: Shar, Lathander, Lolth SYMBOL: Four interlocking silver circles on a dark purple background WOR. ALIGN.: CG, N, CN, NE, CE Worshipers in Calimshan and other areas of the Shining South claim that Ibrandul (Ih-BRAN-duhl) watches over humans who must venture into hostile underground areas, aiding and guiding those who serve him when they are in need. Ibrandul’s worship began in the prehistory of Calimshan, even before the founding of the Shoon Empire, which is now known as Iltkazar. Some tune after the defeat of the Djen, a tribe of nomadic humans was abducted from the Calim Desert by dark elf raiders from the city of Guallidurth, located deep beneath the desert sands. These humans served the drow as slaves for centuries, unable to flee the subterranean city because of their fear of the all-enveloping darkness. The humans eventually escaped when a monstrous lizard emerged from the darkness, drove off the dark elf overseers, and led the slaves into the surrounding wilds of the Underdark. Some of the former slaves eventually returned to the surface and brought with them tales of the Lord of the Dark Depths to the tribes of the surface. Others remained in the dark tunnels, living in small, nomadic bands and subsisting by raiding the farms and caravan of the drow of Guallidurth and the humans of the surface. The subterranean dwellers slowly evolved into skulks—a cowardly race of humanoids with chameleonlike abilities—through a side-effect of one of the spells granted by the Skulking God. Both the humans of the surface and the skulks of the Underdark continue to worship Ibrandul, albeit with slightly different representations and sets of beliefs. Since then Ibrandul’s worship has quietly spread to many locations with access to the Underdark, including Undermountain beneath Mt. Waterdeep. During the Time of Troubles, Ibrandul was spotted wandering the Underdark beneath Waterdeep. Unbeknownst to his worshipers, Ibrandul was killed during the Godswar by Shar. The now-petrified remains of his avatar are believed to lie at the bottom of a vast chasm in a lost level of Undermountain. Shar has always jealously guarded her rulership over darkness and those who work in it, and when Ibrandul was tremendously weakened by being forced into a minor avatar form (as all the powers were) during the Tune of Troubles, Shar killed him for daring to subvert followers away from her ranks. When the gods ascended to the heavens, Shar had acquired the power and portfolio of Ibrandul. Shar’s guise as Ibrandul is quite useful to her, allowing her to subvert the worship of her hated enemy Selûne without drawing attention to her most faithful worshipers, the nightcloaks. Shar/Ibrandul enjoys the delicious irony of secretly eroding the power of the Lady of Silver, particularly in the city of Waterdeep, one of the seats of Selûne’s power. Ibrandul was a taciturn and moody power, and Shar stills plays him as such when she speaks for him or has one of her avatars behave and appear as his used to. He displayed all intense emotions simply by flicking his tongue or blinking his eyes at a quicker pace. He radiated an aura of gloom, darkness, and ages long forgotten. He was always restless, wanting to stalk off into the dark and roam the tunnels of the Underdark searching for those might harm his followers. Other Manifestations Ibrandul commonly manifests as sounds: footsteps around the bend, breathing (which is often mistaken for wind moaning in the caverns), dripping water (often in arid regions of the Underdark), cave-ins (which rumble in understandable words and phrases), and in curious rock formations and erosion patterns. Many adventurers aided by Ibrandul have no idea that they have been visited by him; rather, they find themselves guided to their destinations by avoiding natural hazards and following peculiar-yet-natural signs—typically a trail of warm spots on tunnel walls (visible by infravision and lasting for only a few moments per spot). Ibrandul sometimes works through free-willed earth elementals, horgars (giant sluglike creatures that tunnel through the earth by melting stone), ibrandlin and other lizards of all sizes, skulks, oozes (gray and crystal varieties), and will o’ deeps (see the RAVENLOFT® MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix III, Creatures of Darkness). The Church CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests CLERGY’S ALIGN.: N, CN, NE, CE TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, if neutral, SP: No CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, if evil, SP: No All clerics and specialty priests of Ibrandul receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. Any creature who loved the darkness with a passion used to be able to join Ibrandul’s priesthood. Shar (masquerading as Ibrandul) now keeps watch over the sect of Ibrandul and grants his priests their spells. Shar is pleased with her new followers and makes all new initiates specialty priests, although numerous clerics of Ibrandul—about 20% of the total clergy—still exist from prior to the Fall of the Gods. Ibrandul’s clergy members used to include a few gray druids (druids with the Underdark as their primary terram, as discussed in the Complete Druid’s Handbook), but since the Time of Troubles they have stopped receiving spells from the Lord of the Dry Depths and now worship dwarf, gnome, or other Underdark deities. In Calimshan and the Shining South, Ibrandul’s worship has declined significantly over the centuries among humans. Ibrandul is still worshiped with great fervor by the once-human bands of skulks who stalk the Underdark in the Calishite region of Faerûn and emerge only to raid the surface As a result, the Skulking God is considered far more of an evil power in Calimshan than elsewhere in the Realms. In the Sword Coast North, Ibrandul’s faith is a relatively recent arrival. Here the Lord of the Dry Depths attracts worshipers of a wide variety of alignments and races, and his priests emphasize his defender aspect more than his love of darkness. It is likely that Shar will shift this focus in the near future. Before Ibrandul was slam, he provided his priests with spells to modify fire lizards into ibrandlin, the “lurkers in darkness” created in the image of the Stalker, which priests could train to guard Ibrandul’s temples. (These monstrous modified fire lizards are detailed in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set on a MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheet and summarized below.) With Shar’s favor, the ibrandlin are now beginning to breed true. Before the Avatar crisis Ibrandul tended to ignore his followers once they were relatively safe, leaving all his clergy members as clerics and not providing enough divine power to turn the ibrandlin into a self-propagating species. It was probably this inattention to his worshipers and corresponding weakening in his power that led to his defeat by Shar. Novice Ibrandulin (priests of Ibrandul) are called Children of Ibrandul, and addressed as “child” by priests. When initiated into the priesthood, they earn the title Lurker. Senior priests (those above 5th level) are Mysterious Lurkers, and the leader of a temple is an Impenetrable Lurker. Priests often take distinctive personal titles, and the recognition of such title by the Impenetrable Lurker of a temple is all that is required to make them official. Dogma: Followers of Ibrandul believe that the Underdark is every bit as vital as the surface world, and darkness is its greatest redeeming quality. In a world without light, there is no tedious and inescapable march of day and night to command the lives of intelligent creatures and no end to the variety of shapes and textures to experience tactilely—something which would be lost by merely looking upon them as surface dwellers do. Followers of Ibrandul believe that nothing is good or evil in the dark unless you consider it so, and such value judgments are frivolous. Initiates to the Enveloping Darkness, as the faith is properly known, are charged: “There is perfect freedom in perfect darkness: independence, individuality, liberty from the judgment of others. Ibrandul protects you and guides you in the dark ways. He drives away those who would do his children harm and from time to time reveals great treasures to those who venture into the depths. Remain steadfast to him, and he will stand by you.” Day-to-Day Activities: All priests of Ibrandul proselytize among adventurers and the poor folk of cities. Ibrandulin are also expected to build temple fortresses deep in the Underdark to serve as sanctuaries for those who venture in the depths. They are to offer the protection of the Lord of the Dry Depths to those who must hide underground (from justice, their enemies, a plague, severe weather, or an attack on the city) by providing such people with guarded, defensible temples underground to stay in—in exchange for regular rental payments for a bed, food, a niche in the temple, and Ibrandul’s favor. Many of Ibrandul’s clergy members wander in the Underdark as adventurers or aides to them. Their mission is to persuade everyone they meet to remain below the surface and acknowledge Ibrandul as their defender while below ground. Ibrandulin tend to roam alone in the Underdark, celebrating the darkness, which leads to a relatively high mortality rate among the lower-ranking priests. The smarter Ibrandulin stick with groups until they develop their survival skills and priestly powers a bit more. Shar tends to warn and protect higher-level followers of Ibrandul with the same subtle signs and manifestations that Ibrandul liked to use. Each time priests of Ibrandul gain a level of experience, they are expected to throw a tithe of a tenth of their total wealth into a deep pit, where it should remain unrecoverable. All priests and more casual followers should throw a copper piece intp any pit they cross as a thanks for safely negotiating it and into any nearby hole or crevice whenever they believe they have witnessed a sign from the Ibrandul. Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: At 5th level, all priests of Ibrandul must undergo a secret ritual involving ingesting ibrandlin blood and a magical ceremony conducted by an Impenetrable Lurker. As a result of this ceremony, known as elah’ranak (“Protective Armor of Darkness” in Alzhedo), large areas of the wrists, forearms, chest, back, and legs are covered with patches of overlapping scales in a fashion reminiscent of the ibrandlin. These scales give the (now senior) priest a base Armor Class of 5 but result in a permanent loss of ld3 points of Charisma. Ibrandulin celebrate very few holy days. On cloud-covered nights when there is a new moon and the Land Above is pitch black, Ibrandul’s priests emerge for a ceremony known as the Foreshadowing. Beginning at midnight, this ritual celebrates Ibrandul’s promise to eventually envelop all the land above and below in darkness. Each Midwinter’s Eve, the faithful of Ibrandul give thanks to the Lurker in Darkness for their delivery from the hands of the dark elves. This ceremony, known as the Deliverance Unto Darkness, typically involves the sacrifice of a monstrous spider or some other creature or being Intimately associated with Lolth or the drow and the casting of dark path spells. Long chains of Ibrandul’s worshipers then use the abilities granted them by the dark path spells to wander through the Underdark without light sources, trusting their deity to lead them to safety. When turning undead, clerics of Ibrandul do not wield holy symbols. Instead, they reach down and grasp at a handful of earth or gravel and then let it trickle through their fists as if they were reminding the undead of what should happen when something dies. Major Centers of Worship: Ibrandul can be worshiped anywhere it is dark and anywhere in the Underdark. Ibrandul has shaped elaborate altars out of the natural stone in numerous large caverns throughout the Underdark. They are recognizable as plateaus at least 20 feet across, worn glassy smooth across the top and having steps that ascend from any accessible side. At the very center of the plateau, Ibrandul carves many runes and glyphs of varying texture and shape so that followers can kneel and caress them while meditating. Ibrandul’s largest and newest temple is the Deep Temple of Dark Hope, recently constructed deep beneath the streets of Waterdeep by Thalander “the Mad.” This temple serves as a stronghold and place of sanctuary for adventurers exploring Undermountain and the Underdark—for a steep fee. The subterranean temple can also be reached via a two-way gate from the Dark Gateway (also known as the Upper Temple), a secret shrine to Ibrandul located in the Trades Ward of the City of Splendors. Affiliated Orders: The Shadows of the Night is a sinister organization based in the Calimshan’s Underdark comprising scattered bands of skulks. These skulks are somewhat more daring than their cowardly fellows and engage in fairly regular raids on the surface, although they still only attack when they have a vast superiority in numbers. It is believed the Shadows of the Night are led by some powerful evil creature—perhaps a renegade dark elf or illithilich. The Knights Fallen is a band of priests, rogues, and warriors who stalk the northern reaches of the Underdark. They serve Ibrandul by seeking out those who have lost their way in the darkness, typically adventurers or daring merchants, and delivering, them to relative safety in exchange for a significant fee. They are believed to be based in the Deep Temple of Dark Hope, but bands of this order have been encountered as far east as Anauroch and as far south as Amn. Legends speak of an itinerant band of wanderers of various races who call themselves the Horgardin. The group is led by a half-dark elf gray druid of Ibrandul who leads his followers along a twisting path through the Underdark said to be created in ancient times by a huge horgar controlled by the Lord of the Dry Depths. Since Shar assumed Ibrandul’s portfolio, orders of her followers have been (oddly) friendly to those of Ibrandul, although they tend to behave a bit condescendingly. Priestly Vestments: Priests of Ibrandul wear dark purple ceremonial robes covered with a pattern of large, overlapping silver rings and belted with a black sash. The rings symbolize their interdependence (as fellow children of Ibrandul) and also the protective scales of the Lord of the Dry Depths. The holy symbol of Ibrandul is usually carved into a semiprecious stone and carried on a thong or chain, or sometimes formed symbolically from a puzzle ring of four interlinked silver finger rings worn as one ring. Adventuring Garb: In general, followers of Ibrandul have a distinct predilection for black and dark purple clothing with silver ornamentation. One might often mistake them for rogues (which they may be anyway) because they seem to dress as if to blend with darkness. When adventuring, the Skulking God’s clergy members wear reasonable armor that protects them yet enables them to move swiftly in the rough terrain of subterranean tunnels. Such armor is always tinted or dyed flat black or a deep purple so as not to reflect any light and is usually crafted from metals or 1izard skins found in the Underdark. Ibrandulin wield whatever weapons are appropriate and available. Specialty Priests Darkwalkers REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom, Constitution 11 PRIME REQ.: Wisdom, Constitution ALIGNMENT: C N WEAPONS: Any ARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail; no Shields MAJOR SPHERESS: All, elemental, guardian, protection, sun (only the darkness- creating versions of reversible spells), travelers MINOR SPHERES: Chaos, combat, creation, divination, healing, necromantic MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics REQ. PROFS: Animal training (ibrandlin), mining BONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, direction sense Although his darkwalkers are primarily humans and (in area of Calimshan) skulks, Ibrandul is known to also have rare dwarf, gnome, dark elf, and half-elf (of dark elf descent) specialty priests. Darkwalkers cast all darkness - related spells with twice the normal area of effect and duration; this doubling also effects their darkness-related spelllike abilities. All darkwalkers are granted 30-foot infravision. If they already possess infravision due to their race, darkwalkers receive a 10-foot extension to their range. Darkwalkers are able to cast darkness (as the reverse of the 1st-level priest spell light) or dark path (as the 1st-level priest spell) once per day. At 3rd level, darkwalkers are able to cast continual darkness (as the reverse of the 3rd-level priest spell continual light) once per day. At 5th level, darkwalkers must undergo the elah’ranak ceremony like all of Ibrandul’s priests. The ceremony gives the darkwalker a base Armor Class of 5 but results in the permanent loss of 1d3 points of Charisma. At 5th level, darkwalkers are able to cast blacklight or meld into stone (as the 3rd-level priest spells) once per day. At 7th level, darkwalkers can cast stone shape (as the 5th-level wizard spell) or skulk (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day. At 10th level, darkwalkers eyes have been magically adapted so well to darkness by their years in Ibrandul’s service that they can see in absolute darkness as if it were daylight. However, they are nearly blind within twilight conditions (-1 penalty to saving throws and attack rolls) and totally blind within daylight or equivalent conditions (-4 penalty to Armor Class, saving throws, and attack rolls). Ibrandulin Spells 1st Level Dark Path (Alteration) Sphere: Sun, Travelers Range: Touch Components: V, S, M Duration: 3 hours/level Casting Time: 1 round Area of Effect: Special Saving Throw: None This spell enables its willing recipients to move in complete darkness without hindrance or risk. The night sky is not usually considered complete darkness, but a cave lined with luminescent lichens is so considered. This spell also works for temporarily or permanently blind creatures who possess nonfunctioning sensory organs as well. Although spell recipients cannot actually see in the darkness, they are completely aware of all natural and unnatural hazards and creatures that they would be able to perceive in fully illuminated conditions and can react accordingly. The spell does not allow the detection of invisible or magically silenced creatures or hazards. Recipients of this spell suffer no attack penalties for darkness or blindness while under the effects of this spell. Although this spell can only be cast on a single recipient, any living creature in physical contact with the recipient when the spell is cast or part of a chain of creatures in physical contact with each other and with the spell recipient receives the benefit of the dark path as well while contact is maintained. Relying on such chains of contact is dangerous during combat situations, since the benefit of the spell stops immediately for any creature who loses direct or indirect physical contact with the spell recipient (as well as anyone further down the living chain). Reestablishing contact reestablishes the dark path unless the spell has already ended. Creatures not in contact with the spell recipient (or the chain to the spell recipient) when the spell is cast cannot later join the chain or touch the spell recipient and gain the spell’s benefits; such beings also effectively terminate a chain wherever they are DOsitioned, so those linked in a chain after them lose the dark path’s benefits also until the chain is rearranged to exclude them. If the spell’s recipient or anyone in contact with the recipient enters an area of illumination (defined as coming within 15 feet of a lit torch, within an appropriate distance to another light source such as a lamp or lantern, or entering the area of effect of a light or continual light spell), the dark path spell ends immediately, and everyone currently receiving the benefits of the dark path must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be stunned for 1 round and blinded for 1d6 rounds. The material component of this spell is a small piece of luminescent lichen and the priest’s holy symbol. 3rd Level Blacklight (Alteration) Sphere: Combat, Sun Range: 10 yards/level Components: V, S, M Duration: 1 round/level Casting Time: 6 Area of Effect: 20-foot-radius globe Saving Throw: Neg. Upon casting this spell, the priest creates a stationary, temporary area of total darkness. The darkness is impenetrable to normal vision and infravision, but the caster can see and move normally within the blacklit area. The caster can attack and cast spells normally within the limits of the blacklight. Each round, those within the blacklit area are allowed a saving throw vs. spell at a -3 penalty. Those who succeed can see as the caster does for that round while those who fail are wrapped in total darkness. Characters outside the sphere cannot see into it. Normal and magical lights are doused by the blacklight. The casting of light, continual light, or dispel magic to counter this spell destroys the blacklit area. Creatures within the blacklit area have a -4 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws and have their Armor Classes reduced by 4. Characters with the blind-fighting nonweapon proficiency are only penalized by -2 to their attack rolls and saving throws and have no penalty to their Armor Classes. The caster of a blacklight spell can end it at will, though continual concentration is not necessary to maintain it. Note that spells that depend on visual effects (such as illusions) do not function if the victim cannot see them. The material components of this spell are a piece of coal and the dried eyeball of any creature. 4th Level Skulk (Illusion/Phantasm) Sphere: Protection Range: Touch Components: V, S, M Duration: Special Casting Time: 7 Area of Effect: Creature touched Saving Throw: None This spell gives willing recipients the chameleonlike ability to move quickly and quietly (+20% chance to move silently, +2 bonus to normal movement rate) or to freeze into immobility and blend into the background of their surroundings. While immobile, a recipient is 90% likely to be passed by unnoticed. In forest and subterranean settings, spell recipients can pass almost without trace. Anyone following the recipient of a skulk spell in these surrounding has one-fifth his or her normal chance to track successfully. While under the effects of a skulk spell, morale checks by the recipient of a skulk are made at a -2 penalty. Saving throws vs. magical fear are made at a -6 penalty. There is a 1% noncumulative chance per use of this spell that the recipient is permanently transformed into a skulk. When this happens, the victim undergoes an immediate and permanent physical metamorphosis. Any shift in alignment or development or improvement of thieving skills as a result of the transformation occurs over a period of one to two years. The material component of this spell is a small piece of skin from a chameleon, a dead spider of any size, and the priest’s holy symbol. Skulk: THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon type, usually 1d4 (dagger) or 1d6 (short sword); AC 7; HD 2; MV 12; SA backstab as 5th-level thief (+4 bonus to hack attack roll and triple damage when successful), completely silent movement, -3 penalty to opponents’ surprise rolls; SD camouflage, hard to track; SW cowardly; SZ M (5 to 6 feet tall); INT average (8-10); AL CE; ML unsteady (5-7); XP 175; GREYHAWK® MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix. Notes: Class and racial abilities supersede these statistics when applicable. SD—90% invisibility when immobile, one-fifth normal chance to track in forest and subterranean settings. SW—Skulks try to run when first wounded or when the odds are less than two to one in their favor. They never engage in direct combat unless trapped, but rather backstab and run, to later sneak up on opponents again. 6th Level Create Ibrandlin (Abjuration) Sphere: Guardian Range: Special Components: V, S, M Duration: Permanent Casting Time: 7 hours Area of Effect: 1 fire lizard egg Saving Throw: None This spell was developed centuries ago by priests of Ibrandul to facilitate the creation of fearsome guardians for the temple of Ibrandul located in the Underdark. Ibrandlin are created by magically altering fire lizard eggs to create the trainable monsters described in a MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM sheet included in the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set. Since the Time of Troubles, ibrandlin have begun to breed true. As a result this spell is likely to lapse into relative disuse, given the expense of the spell components. Casting this spell is a long and arduous process. Those who cast this spell must prepare themselves with a tenday of prayer and fasting before attempting the casting. The spellcaster must then coat a fertilized, living fire lizard egg with a mixture of holy oil and diamond dust and perform a seven-hour ritualistic prayer dance around the egg. Each hour of the dance, the spellcaster must make a Constitution ability check. Failure of any Constitution ability check results in the complete failure of the spell. The spell can be attempted once again one tenday later on the same egg with new material components. A second failure kills the unhatched fire lizard in the egg, rendering it useless. When create ibrandlin is successfully cast, the material components are absorbed into the egg and an untrained hatchling ibrandlin emerges from the egg one tenday later. The material components of this spell are Ibrandulin holy oil and 3,000 gp worth of diamond bust. Ibrandlin: THAC0 11; #AT 5; Dmg ld8 (claw)/ ld8 (claw)/1d8 (claw)/ld8 (claw)/2d8 (bite); AC 3; HD 10; MV 9, Cl 5; SA fire breath; SD immune to fire-based attacks, disease, poison, rot grubs, and other parasites; MR 40%, SZ G (40 feet or more long); INT semi- (4); AL LN; ML fearles, (19); XP 7000; Ruins of Undermountain. Notes: Ibrandlin can pry open doors and carry prey or objects. They are not smart enough to wield magical items on their own, although they can duplicate actions they have observed. They sleep 50% of the time. They respect and obey those dressed as priests of Ibrandul, and can understand brief commands, along with instinctively protecting their lair (usually a temple of Ibrandul) SA—Serpentine bodies enable ibrandlin to rear up on their tail and attack with all four claws while biting or breathing fire. They breathe fire every fifth round in a cone 5 feet wide at the mouth, 10 feet wide at the end, and 15 feet long for 2d6 points of damage, save vs. breath weapon for half. While they cannot bite while breathing, if a “bite” attack roll succeeds in the same round that they breathe, a victim directly in front of the breath weapon takes maximum damage from fire (12 points) with no saving throw. With a successful attack roll, an ibrandlin can pin a victim beneath its body in lieu of three claw attacks, but does not automatically rest its weight upon pinned victims. If a victim continues to fight after being pinned (using spells with only verbal components or at an attack and damage roll penalty of -3), she or he then feels the ibrandlin’s weight and suffers ld4 points of crushing damage per round. A single ibrandlin can pin up to five man-size victims. To escape requires successful Strength and Dexterity checks in the same round even if the ibrandlin is dead. Escaping from beneath a held or paralyzed ibrandlin is at a -10 penalty to the ability checks. AC -5; MV 15; HP 224; THAC0 -2; #AT 3/1* Dmg 1d10+9 (+9 Str, +10 spec. bonus in punching, +9 chart bonus**) MR 80% SZ L (12 feet) Str 21, Dex 13, Con 25, Int 19, Wis 23, Cha 18 Spells P: 15/14/13/13/12/11/9, W: 5/5/5/5/5/3/3/2/1 Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 4, SP 6 * Includes extra unarmed specialization attack. **Using the PHB or Complete Fighter’s Handbook or Complete Priest’s Handbook unarmed combat rules. Using Player’s Option.: Combat & Tactics, he is considered a grand master. SW.When ibrandlin hurl or throw objects, they attack at -3 penalty; misses land 1d10 feet from their intended target. Category:Lesser deities